Back in our Hearts
by Angelsfire
Summary: ive added chapter 5!!!!!
1. Default Chapter

Description: 4 months after the heist the Toretto house has finally settled down and Brian was able to convince and negotiate with the police to let the group go as long as they did a lot of service work for the truckers without getting paid and because after what happened to all of them the cops decided to go lenient b/c they believed they had learned their lesson. However, Brian stopped working as a cop and worked more with the team who all now have sponsorships when racing so it isn't illegal. Now with a call from the hospital Dominic and Mia are finally reunited with their sister Dani who they haven't seen since their mother died 3 years before. She is 16 and the social workers decide to give custody back to Dom as long as he keeps his clean record due to the fact that Dani's foster parents were found abusing her. She's okay, but is has been a while since she had been in the Toretto household and things have definately changed. The team still races, and the Charger has been fixed, but Dani is all grown up now and it is going to take some time for Toretto to get used to the fact that Dani isn' t a child anymore. Especiallly since she can drive and has the urge to follow the Toretto family tradition of racing.   
  
Chapter 1  
  
"The Toretto House"  
  
The team was all sitting at the table eating, Letty, Leon, Mia, Dom, Brian, Vince, and Jesse. The normal talking and chatting was going on when the phone rang.  
  
"Yeah?" Dom answered it walking into the livingroom.  
  
"Are you Mr. Dominic Toretto?" A female voice on the other line asked.  
  
"Yes," he answered  
  
"This is Ms. Cauffman. I need you to come down to Memorial Hospital. Dani has had an accident and I think you and Mia need to get down here now." The woman said.  
  
"Is it bad?" Dom didn't want to alarm anyone so he used small descriptions.  
  
"You just need to get here."   
  
"Alright be there in a bit." Dom hung up the phone and walked back in the kitchen. He kept his cool as he promised he would start doing in situations when he wanted to strangle someone.   
  
"Who was that Dom?" Mia asked still laughing at something Brian said.  
  
"It's Dani. She's been hurt in some sort of accident shes in the hospital." Dominic said grabbing his keys. He didn't need to ask, everyone dropped what they were doing and loaded in the cars.  
  
"The Hospital"  
  
Dani Mercell Toretto layed looking up at the ceiling squincing from waking up from what seemed like a 3 day nap. Why was she in the hospital? The Cohan's certainly weren't the ones who brought her here. They were her foster parents and they were the reason for her being here. Their son had just died a year before and they decided to try to take on a foster child. Well Dani wasn't everything they hoped for and they definately weren't what she wanted after being shoved through 3 foster homes in the last 7 years.   
  
  
  
Joseph Cohan was a big wig outside of L.A. and running for governor and Lorene was a money grubbing housewife who wanted everything to be perfect in every way. So when their alcoholic son was killed while drunk driving, they decided to take her in for a publicity stunt. Joseph was an alcoholic himself and Lorene was just as evil without the alcohol. Dani was no angel to them. She was a girl who always got into trouble, not bad trouble but like fights at school, some average C grades and it was not up to par with the Cohan's name. She was making them look bad, so for the last 3 months Dani had turned into what was once a sassy, smart smouth kid, into reserved and scared of everything that moved. Just because it would make her think that Joseph was near her.  
  
What she didn't know was that a nosey neighbor had called on them and when the police saw the battered, unconcious Dani at the bottom of the stairs they arrested Joe immediately. Next thing Dani knew she was in the hospital and scared out of her wits of what was going on. She jumped when she heard a knock on the door to her hospital room.  
  
To her relief Ms. Cauffman of social service was the one who walked in instead of the Cohans'. "Well look who is up, how you feeling sweetie?" The short thick African/American woman asked.  
  
"I feel like shit," She said and then looked over at Ms. Cauffman who looked stern. "Sorry, I feel like I have been hit by a truck, better." She tried to give a smile but it hurt her bruised cheek too much.  
  
"Better," the woman smiled. "The doctor said you are lucky and nothing is broken. They will keep you overnight for observation, but you can go home tomorrow."  
  
"What home? Where am I going? Because I'll be damned if I go back and live with the Cohans' you didn't listen to me 3 months ago when I told you I had a bad feeling about this but, no, oh no, I had to go no matter what. And now what? You want me to go back with them I don't think so. You can kiss my Italian smooth a----" She was interrupted by Ms. Cauffman  
  
"Dani! Listen to me young lady," She raised her voice. "You aren't going back with them. They are arressted. You don't have to worry about them any longer. And you will be happy to know I found you a new home."  
  
"No offense, but your homes suck." Dani answered.  
  
"Oh so you don't want to go and live with your brother and sister again, ahh I see. Because I don't know how their going to react when I tell them you don't want to go." She smiled  
  
"I get to go back and live with them?" She smiled. "You're joking, are you just trying to put me in a good mood or are you being serious?"  
  
"I'm being serious. We checked them out and they are clear on records and you get to try living with them for a while." She smiled as she was grabbed by Dani and hugged furiously. "But your grades have to come up, there will be no drinking, you have to do what your brother says and he has to prove himself as a parent as well. This is a trial basis Dani. Don't screw it up ok." Ms. Cauffman winked and walked out the door.   
  
Nothing could ruin Dani's day now. She was getting to see her brother and sister and the gang after 3 years and infact get to go and live with them again. Nothing could be wrong.  
  
"Brian and Mia on the way to the hospital"  
  
Brian didn't say a word. He was totally lost. Who was Dani? He had never heard of the person before. He looked at Mia. She almost had tears in her eyes. He had to say something.  
  
"Mia?" He grabbed her hand. All she could do was look over at him and without her sayin a word Brian continued. "Who is Dani?"  
  
"Oh Brian. I'm sorry, I totally forgot to tell you, but I'm surprised you never read it in your file." Mia was being sarcastic, but she was always that way when she was upset.  
  
"Mia?" Brian whispered.  
  
"Brian, Dani is me and Dom's sister." 


	2. we meet again

By the way I don't own any of the characters in this story except for the ones I make up on my own!  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Dom looked down the hall, he was told to come to the emergency room and he didn't like the sound of that. He went to the front desk and asked where he could find Dani Toretto. He didn't know if the team was behind him, he didn't care.   
  
Ms. Cauffman met him infront of the door to Dani's room. "Mr. Toretto," she smiled.  
  
"Ms. Cauffman," He smiled back but tried to get through and she stopped him by putting a hand on his chest lightly.  
  
"Dominic watch what you say to her. She has had a hard time. Dani will explain everything, but it is safe to let you know that she isn't going back in foster care." She said.  
  
"What happened? Is she alright? And why isn't she going back?" He didn't look into her eyes or talk to her face the whole time, he kept glancing over her shoulder at what he could see of his sister's bed.  
  
"She's fine, she is going to be sore, but she's fine. Why don't you and Mia go talk to her and then I'll give you more details, hmm?" She said and walked to the waiting room.  
  
Mia was right behind Dom, which he didn't notice. He asked the rest of the group to stay outside. It was a Toretto family meeting. They knew and walked into the waiting room. Mia grabbed Dom's hand and was surprised that he took it as they walked into the room.  
  
There she laid asleep. The youngest Toretto that they hadn't seen in 3 years. She had been in foster care for 7 since Dom went into jail. She was 16 now and Dom and Mia couldn't believe their eyes of how much she had grown, they also couldn't believe the bruises they saw on her face. They didn't have to wander, they knew. That son-of-a-bitch family she was staying with did this to her, Dom took a deep breath and squeezed Mia's hand. Mia looked at her brother, praying that he wouldn't let his temper get to him. He walked over to the bed and laid his hand upon Dani's cheek. She stirred and then opened her eyes slowly, well one eye since the other one was swollen shut.  
  
"Dom?" Was all she said, and was glad to see her brother smiled back.  
  
"Hey cupcake," He smiled.  
  
"I told you I hate that name." She smiled back  
  
"Yep she's okay," Mia smiled.  
  
"Mia," a broader smile came upon Dani's face.  
  
"How you feeling sweetheart?" Her sister asked her.  
  
"Like shit, I hate these damned drugs they give me for the pain they make me sleepy, otherwise I'm okay especially since Ms. Cauffman said I get to come and live with you again, if you would like me." Dani said.  
  
"If we would like--" Dom came was shocked. "Why wouldn't we like you to, we have been waiting for this day for 7 years." He smiled at Mia who almost started crying at the news.  
  
"Where's the team? Are you guys still doing okay?" She looked around.  
  
"They are right outside, you up for some visitors?" Mia asked.  
  
"Hell yeah," Dani smiled.  
  
"We are going to go and get everything settled with Ms. Cauffman, we'll ask the team to come in. It's good to see you, il mio bambino(my baby)" Dom said as he kissed her on the forehead and left. Mia did the same.  
  
The two walked out without saying a word. As they walked out to the team sitting in the waiting room their conversation diminised immediately as they all stood up.   
  
"Is she alright?" Letty asked walking over to Dom grabbing his hand.  
  
"Yeah she's fine." He nodded and kissed her on the forehead.  
  
"In fact, the first thing she asked for was you guys," Mia smiled at them as they smiled back. "Well what are you waiting for, go see her." She jerked her head towards the room as they all came to their senses and were happy to know they got to go see her.   
  
Brian was following when Mia stopped him. "What?"  
  
"Not the time Bri, wait okay, you're new, she gets nervous around new people." She smiled. He nodded agreeing and then said he was going to go get some coffee and have a cigarrette while they talk to Ms. Cauffman.  
  
The two sat nervously as the social worker spoke. "The couple she was with wasn't the best. Yet they cleared for her to be put with them. They seemed nice and were happy to take on a child since they had lost their own. We did not know it was a publicity stunt, we thought since they were strict people they would be good for her. We also did not know that Mr. Cohan was an alcoholic, and a coke user. By the time we figured it out it was too late. We were on our way to arrest him and we had got the call on the way there about a domestic dispute. When we got there we found her at the bottom of the stairs he had pushed her down them after beating her." Ms. Cauffman lowered her head. "I'm so sorry you two that she had to go through this. We do screen very well and this rarely happens and we don't like it. That is why I decided to give her back to you. She is 16 and you all are clear of any records as far as we know. Dom we know you and your friends are on probation after the heist incident, and I had to beg the authorities to let her stay with you. When staying with you, you must give her a curfew, she must not get into any big trouble, you must stay clean of criminal acts. This is a trial basis for the both of you. She must not skip school, her grades must come up, no drinking, no parties that affect her if it is a school night. Do I make myself clear to the both of you?"  
  
Dom clinched his fist, first she was sorry then she was acting like him and Mia were the bad guys. He took a deep breath to calm him down for the 5 time that day and looked at Mia who nodded and then he nodded. They signed the papers and then got up and went to see their sister again. An empty piece in their souls had been filled again, and nothing could change that.  
  
"Look at your battle wounds kid, did the other one look worse?" Vince was joking with her as Mia and Dom walked in. The whole team was crowded around her.  
  
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he isn't breathing anymore," Dani smiled back.  
  
"Hey give my bambino some space, heh?" He came over and kissed Dani on the forehead again.  
  
They were all talking and chattering like old times, everyone was happy. Brian could hear the commotion outside the door. As he looked inside and the crowd was moving he could see the girls face. Mia turned around and saw him and smiled. Dani noticed this and looked at the door. She knew him!  
  
"Brian?" She said loud enough so the team stopped talking and looked at him. 


	3. My backbone

Chapter 3  
  
Brian was just as shocked as Dani. He didn't know that she was Dom's sister when he had first seen her or was talking to her.   
  
"You know him?" Mia asked confused.  
  
"Yes, you do too?" Dani looked at everyone who nodded.  
  
"How?" Mia wandered.  
  
"While in foster care I always went to the Boys and Girls club all the time. They had cops sit and talk to us and hang out that volunteered. Brian was one of them. He helped me out a lot." She smiled at Brian wbo turned a slight shade of red from acknowledgement.  
  
"You never told me that you met her." Mia was a little mad, had he used her sister to get ahold of Dom?  
  
"I didn't know I had met her. She used a different last name." Brian knew what was going on, Dom would be pissed if he used his little sister for information about him. But that wasn't the case. He really did not know that Dani was a Toretto.  
  
Dom and Mia looked back at their sister who could see some tension. "I used a different last name, no one would talk to me if they found out what I was, plus it was suggested by my foster parents at the time. Seriously." She strengthened the last word to let Dom know she wasn't covering for Brian. "So, Brian, I hear you aren't a cop anymore." She changed the subject and yawned, the drugs were kicking in again.  
  
"Yeah, cars are my thing now." He said as Dani nodded and yawned again.  
  
"Well, hey I think you have had enough fun for today bambino, we are going to leave and let you sleep, I'll be back later ok?" No answer, she had already closed her eyes.  
  
Dom and Mia kissed her goodbye and then left with the tea.  
  
***********************************************************************************  
  
"I can't believe you didn't say anything. I can't believe you knew her and didn't say anything." Mia was yelling at Brian in the car on the way back to the house.  
  
"Mia, I didn't know. Do you realize that she is blonde and blue eyed, the only thing that remotely is like you and Dom is the tanned skin. I didn't know, I would have said something if I did know." Brian said as he stared out the window.  
  
"She is only a half sister. Her mother was German or something to that affect." Mia looked forward.  
  
"How come you never told me about her. There is no pictures in the house of her. Why did you keep her locked away like that?" He questioned.  
  
"It hurt Dom too much to think about her. Though he keeps a picture of her with him at all times. It's complicated Brian. When my father died, and Dom went to jail, I couldn't take care of her. And my stepmother was too drunk to notice Dani wasn't coping well at all. Dani was there the day my father died Brian. She saw it, she was only 9 and she attempted suicide after Dom was sent to prison. My mother was to blame b/c she was too drunk to notice that her own daughter was depressed." Mia looked down.  
  
"Did Dom know?" Brian asked.  
  
"No, he knew she was sent away, but didn't know why. I told him it was because of our stepmom, nothing was said about what happened." She said quietly.  
  
And that was that. Nothing else was said. There was nothing else, Brian didn't want to tell Mia that he had always wandered why Dani had those scars on her arms, but didn't believe it should be something said outloud.  
  
As soon as the team got back they wanted to celebrate. Baby Toretto was finally coming home. Meanwhile Dom and Mia went on their way back to the hospital. But not before they went to the park to talk. It had been a while since it was just the two of them having a conversation.   
  
"Do you think this is going to be okay?" Dom said, turning off the ignition.  
  
"What Dani? Yeah, I think it will be okay. You practically raised me and I turned out okay." Mia smiled as she grabbed his hand.  
  
"Do you think Brian is telling the truth? Or do you think he used her?" This was new for Dom, he would normally assume things before thinking clearly on them. After everything in the last four months he decided to keep out of going back to prison he was going to have to calm down a little.  
  
"Yes, I know it is hard to trust him now Dom, but I believe now that he has no reason to lie to us. He isn't a cop anymore. I think it is good that she already knows him, because you know how she would react if she knew that we let a cop into our house." Mia looked at her brother.  
  
"Like me?" He smirked.  
  
"Pretty much. I think this will be good for her Dom. We just have to be careful with her. It has been 3 years and she has been through a lot. Especially recently. Give it time, it won't take long for things to go back to normal, okay?" She smiled. Dom nodded, glad that he wasn't in this alone and that he had someone as strong and as smart as Mia to help him out. 


	4. home sweet home

Chapter 4  
  
"Ow!" Dani yelped while trying to get back into her hospital bed.  
  
"Dani, what are ya doin? Here let me help." Dom rushed over to his sister.  
  
"I'm fine," She shook him off of her.  
  
"What are you doing out of bed, you have 2 broken ribs?" Mia asked.  
  
"I was tired of the damned bed pan and I definitely didn't like the catheter," Dani turned a little red about the fact that she was talking about going to the bathroom in front of her siblings. She hated being helpless.  
  
Dom went over and tried to grab her as she yelped again out of pain. "I'm sorry, Dani I didn't mean to--" he was cut off.  
  
"Just leave me alone, I'm fine okay?" She got on the bed and winced fiercely as she got comfortable on the bed.  
  
"You stubborn ox!" Mia said. "Dani, you are going to have to learn that in the next couple of weeks we are going to have to help you, I know you hate not being independent but with the shape you are in now, you need our help!"  
  
Dani looked away, her temper was flaring. She wanted to yell and scream at her sister for not being there, to blame her and Dom for all that had happened. But, she couldn't. She had just been reunited with them and she didn't want to start off bad, and she knew it was wrong to blame them for something that was not their fault.  
  
"I'm sorry Dom, Mia. I shouldn't have yelled. It is just that I am so angry that this happened." Dani punched the bed. Her eyes were beginning to tear up; she didn't want to cry, not in front of her brother. Toretto's were strong, they didn't cry. But, it was no use. The tears flowed.   
  
"I'm so sorry sweetie, I'm so sorry." Dom sat on the bed and held his baby sister. He had not done so since, forever ago. He held her until she fell back asleep, which didn't take long. Mia had already fallen asleep on the couch. Dom decided to put himself in the chair. He wasn't leaving her. He wouldn't leave her ever again.  
  
*******************************************************************************************  
  
Everyone was so excited that today was the day. Dani was coming home. Letty put up a welcome home banner and they got a cake for her. They were still bustling around when Mia, Dom and Dani walked in the door. The banner was the first thing Dani noticed. She smiled and greeted everyone.  
  
"Welcome home bambino," Dom whispered in the girl's ear.  
  
"It's good to be here," she answered.  
  
"We got you a cake, are you hungry, you must be hungry from eating all that hospital food." Letty said.  
  
"Thanks, but no thanks. Save it. Dom, can I go up and take a nap?" Dani was already trying to get up the stairs.  
  
"Sure, bambino, whatever you like." He half smiled.  
  
Mia went to her sister to help her up the stairs. "We fixed up your old room. In fact we found Scruffy for you." She said as they both went up to their room.  
  
After they were out of ear shot Letty looked at Dom worriedly. "I'm going to go take a nap myself." He said nodding towards the stairs showing that he wanted Letty to follow. She was obedient.  
  
Everyone else sighed. They knew it was going to be different but not this different. They all decided to go ahead to the garage. Mia came down in the process of their leaving and she said she would follow and open up the diner.  
  
"So how is she?" Letty asked as she laid on Dom's chest.  
  
"She's ok, it is just different for her. She's really grown up. So quiet. She used to be so lively, happy. And that bastard beat her down." Dom shook his head.  
  
"She'll be back to herself soon, she probably has a lot of trust issues going on, you know?" Letty looked up at him.  
  
"I just thought with me and Mia it would be different. It is like she is afraid we are going to leave her again. She barely lets me hug her."   
  
"Well, it will take time, as soon as she sees that we all love her no matter what she'll be okay. I promise Dom." Letty smiled at him.  
  
"I love you, " He looked down at her and kissed her gently. When they both came up for breath Dom closed his eyes and went to sleep. He was tired. Using a chair from the night before as a bed he got almost no sleep. Letty pecked him on the lips and fell asleep as well. 


	5. things that arent so normal

Chapter 5  
  
(A week later)  
  
Dani didn't want to wake up. For the past week she had been bed ridden on Dom and Mia's order to have her ribs heal. This meant that she didn't have to go to school. Missing school was a glorious thing. She didn't want to face her friends with questions. But she did miss one person. Marc Persona. He was 18 and a senior at West High. Very popular amongst the crowd. He played baseball and was the captain of the team as well as being one of the best students and one of the richest. And he was the boyfriend of Dani. Maybe it was worth going back to school. She would get to see him again.   
  
"Dani you up?" Came the familiar wake up voice of Dom outside her door.  
  
"Yeah I'm up, you can enter." Things had been a little rough between her and the team, especially Dom and Mia. She wasn't used to them. She was 13 when she last saw all of them and that was only for a couple hours on her birthday. Now being sixteen it was different. She was practically a young adult. And the team still saw her as a little one. They didn't know how to treat her. And it felt as if Dom and Mia still saw her as the 9 year old they once knew. But she was trying to make it better, no matter what she still loved them. They were her real family, the one that loved her for who she was and not how anyone wanted her to be. And at 16 yrs old that meant a lot.  
  
"You ready for your first day back to school?" He came in. Dani just shrugged her shoulders. "You want me to take you?"  
  
"Yeah sure, seeing as I don't have a car anymore. That would be okay I guess." She smiled.   
  
"Okay, get dressed and come down for breakfast." He kissed her on the forehead and exited the room.  
  
That was the funny part about the house. Dani wasn't used to everyone being there when she got up. Of course before then the team didn't live there. Now they did. It was weird to come down stairs and find them all talking and chattering, especially that early in the morning.  
  
"Good morning sunshine," Mia said as her baby sister came into the room.  
  
"Morning." She smiled and sat down to eat.  
  
"How you feeling today?" Brian asked.  
  
"Pretty good, everything is almost healed." She said taking a bite out of her toast. The bruises on her face were almost nonexistent to the point where putting make up on covered them up. She hated wearing make-up but she also knew the marks on her face would make people stare at her harder.  
  
"You ready Bambino?" Dom asked as Dani nodded and got her things. She kissed her sister and said goodbye to everyone else. Got her things and went out the door with Dom.  
  
The car ride to school was silent. Dani stared out the window in wonderment of nerves of going back to school as Dom stared at the road wandering what was on his little sisters mind. But it wasn't a long ride and before she knew it, Dom pulled up in front of school. Everyone stared at the supped up Dodge Charger that pulled in front of the school. The windows were tinted and no one knew until Dani opened the door who would come out of there.  
  
"Here you are Bambino. What time do I need to pick you up?" Dom looked at her.  
  
"You don't have to; I'll have a ride back. I'll see you at the shop say about 3?" She smiled at her brother.  
  
"Okay, no problem. You have a good day okay?" He smiled back at her.  
  
"Okay," She said stepping out of the car. The car she hated, the one she hadn't gotten the guts to tell Dom about the nightmares of her father dying in it that were brought back from seeing it. Why couldn't he use the Audi, the Euro, the cobra, the jetta? He had to use the charger. Dani smiled at her brother and then closed the door.   
  
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the trailer trash we thought we had thrown out yesterday." Kayla Mcprerry. Ex of Marc and still mad that a poor foster child like herself had taken him away from her.  
  
"Well if it isn't the hoe I saw on the street corner last night." Dani smiled at her come back. She wasn't afraid of Kayla.   
  
"So word is you live with your brother and sister now." Marci, best friend of Kayla's, remarked.  
  
"And this is any of your business because?" Dani rolled her eyes.  
  
"Who says Marc is going to like your Italian ass anymore now that you live on the other side of the track?" Kayla was getting proud of herself.  
  
"And who says he gives a shit? Hell, I don't even know why I am wasting my time talking to you." She said walking past them up the concrete steps to the high school.  
  
"By the way Dani, love those purple marks on your face. Did you fall down and go boom?" Kayla laughed.  
  
Dani ignored her. As she had for the past seven years. She didn't care what everyone else thought. But deep down she prayed that Marc would still accept her. Though she wanted to trust him with her life, she didn't know how all of everything had affected him. She had never told him she had been abused. And the fact that she didn't want him to see her in the hospital when he stopped by, she hoped he knew it was because of the embarrassment of her bruises and him seeing her like that rather then her not wanting him there at all.  
  
Dani walked into the office and talked to Mrs. Snow who gave her everything she had to make up and told her that the teachers wrote a note saying to take her time and not rush. Dani always liked the secretary. When she would go into the office for getting into trouble she always smiled at her and shook her head as in saying "so what happened this time".  
  
She thanked her and then walked out into the hall. Right there in the doorway, he was standing there. They stared at one another for a while. "Please, please smile or something" She said to herself.  
  
"Hey you," Marc finally grinned.  
  
Dani smiled back. They embraced and then started walking down the hall together.   
  
"Marc," she said.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Please don't be mad at me about the hospital and not getting a hold of you for the past week. It has been hectic, I moved back in with my brother and sister, I was in the hospital, I was healing, I've been trying to make things normal back at home……" she babbled.  
  
"Whoa, babe. Slow down." Mark laid a hand on her shoulder. "Everything is fine. You have no explaining to do. Look I gotta get to class. We'll talk more at lunch okay?"  
  
Dani nodded at that and Marc kissed her on the lips before leaving. Whoa, what a relief she thought. Things are going to be okay now. She could finally breathe.  
  
It felt as though lunch would never come around. Classes were a bore as usual. The teachers were all nice and greeted Dani with friendly smiles and welcome back's. Yep it was great to be back in school, not. The truth was she hated school. But she knew she had to do it. That was at least one thing her brother would kill her for and be disappointed in if she didn't finish high school.   
  
The lunchroom was crowded, but it didn't take long for her to find Marc. He sat with the usual baseball crowd and the rich boys, because he himself was one, and the rich girls, who in the high school were the popular ones.  
  
"Hey you," Marc quickly kissed her as she sat down beside him.  
  
"Hey," Dani greeted back with a smile. The whole table greeted her and welcomed her back. Wow, nothing did change. She was impressed.  
  
"So Dani, I heard that Charger out front belonged to you this morning." Eric, Marc's best friend, said.  
  
"It's my brother's. I don't have a car anymore so he drove me here this morning." She smiled.  
  
"You need a ride home?" It wasn't exactly a question it was a reassurance from Marc. And he was happy when she nodded.  
  
"So that is where you get the racing blood in you." One of the other kids said.   
  
"Well it doesn't look like she is racing anywhere without her beamer." Kayla joined in. Kayla was a street racer herself. In fact she had a lot of Letty's personality, but Letty wasn't bitch to everyone like Kayla was.  
  
"I'll get a car," Dani looked at her. "And this time it won't be the rich bastards paying for it." She continued referring to the Cohan's.   
  
"Easy there Dani," Marc whispered in her ear. "Don't let her get to you."  
  
"Oh stop it Marc, I'm only speaking the truth. I mean how is a girl from the opposite side of the tracks going to keep up with me? Or any of us? From what I have heard, her brother and his little team doesn't race illegally anymore. Ever since they almost killed the Tran cousins and stole many of things they aren't too popular with the rest of the racing crowd now and days. Now how is Dominic Torretto going to handle his baby sister going into the streets with some invisible car racing against me and Chris?" Chris, the other Tran cousin. Johnny's younger brother who just graduated high school the year before. The boy who Dani never got a long with in the first place because their brother's hated one another. And now even worse because Brian and Dom almost killed Johnny and his cousin.  
  
Dani got up at that moment and walked out of the lunchroom. Marc followed after her. She hated hearing her family be dragged down in front of everyone, especially when it made them all uncomfortable to hear about her family's wrongs. They never thought she would go back to them. So it wasn't a big deal. And now she could see that it was a matter considering she was living with them now and it was brought up. Some of Marc's friends hung out with the Tran's. Dani had to see Chris everyday almost before he graduated. The Tran's only lived 2 or 3 houses down from her foster parents'. She couldn't take this. No one was going to see her the same again. And the worst part of it was that it was stupid. Why should anyone care who her family was? She wouldn't trade Dom or Mia or the team, for that fact, for anything in the world. She had to get out of there.  
  
"Nice going Kayla," Eric gave her a dirty look.  
  
"Kayla's got a point." Barry one of Marc other friends said.  
  
"What? You can't be serious." Eric looked at them who held their heads down. "Why does it matter if the girl lives in a shack? Dani is the same person we have known for years, and now just because she is back with her brother and sister it is a bad thing?"   
  
"Her brother and their little team almost killed the Tran cousin's." Kayla argued. She had a thing for Chris.  
  
"Well the Tran's almost killed one of them, from what I recall. Just for a stupid car." Eric announced.  
  
"The Torettos are thieves!" Barry said.  
  
"And you all aren't? You steal your parent's money all the time just by being spoiled. You wreck your cars and get brand new ones the next day, get off easy with the cops, can get away with anything, and that isn't steeling? Or is that just having the money? Jesus. I need to look again at you all and realize that I'm not going to be here next year, and personally not give a fuck about what you think." He got up and walked out of the lunchroom as well.   
  
"He's got a point," Derrick, the wannabe rich kid, who was rich but a lackey said.  
  
"Shut up Derrick," Kayla looked meanly at him and he obeyed.  
  
"Dani! Hey wait up!" Marc called after her as she started walking out the front doors of the school.  
  
"What?" She finally turned around.  
  
"Have you actually let them drag you down? The wonderful girl I knew would never let anyone do so. Or did your foster parents beating the hell out of you take your pride away?" He knew he shouldn't have said it but it slipped.  
  
"How dare you! That isn't any of your business!" She screamed back.  
  
"Being your boyfriend for a year and me not knowing that for the last 3 months you had been abused is a problem. Why couldn't you have the trust in me?"   
  
"I don't trust anyone!" She returned. "I'm still trying to trust my own brother and sister. How could I trust you? You don't know what it has been like going from foster home to foster home, getting sent to people after people. Not knowing if one day you'll ever get to see your family again. And then moving into a home with people who beat you and are mean to you just because they can be and you end up in the hospital because you put a small scratch in his Lexus while washing it. YOU-DON'T-KNOW!" She finished her speech crying. "And then just when you think it is going okay someone pushes you down just because of where your family comes from."  
  
"You're right I don't know." He wanted to hold her so bad, but he was afraid she would push him away. "But I'm willing to try to understand. I want to meet your family. I have nothing wrong with anything. I don't care where you came from. I don't care about your family's bad past. All I care about is you." He stepped forward and held his hand out to her. She looked at it confused. It meant that he wanted her to trust him. To rely on him, and that was a big step forward. But they had made it this far, could she go a step farther? "Go for it." A voice told her.   
  
Marc was glad to feel her little hand in his. He knew what a big step this was. And holding her while she cried and knowing it was him soothing her pain made him feel even better. 


End file.
